Snohomish County’s 211 hotline is moving away from local control

Published 5:00 pm Monday, September 15, 2025

EVERETT — As of Oct. 1, Snohomish County’s hotline for basic-needs emergencies will transition from a local organization to a statewide call center based out of Seattle.

Washington 211 is a phone line that connects the public to local services, including utility assistance, food, housing, child care, after-school programs, elder care and crisis intervention, according to their website.

It is also part of Washington state’s 211-911-988 emergency response and disaster management system, a press release said, serving as a point of contact for first responders and communities to disaster-related resources during major accidents, pandemics, natural disasters and human-caused catastrophes.

Snohomish County is currently a part of the North Sound 211 region, one of seven, which also includes Skagit, Whatcom, Island and San Juan counties. The region’s phone line is currently operated by Volunteers of America Western Washington, based in Everett, and receives about 3,500 calls each month, spokesperson Amanda Etchey said in an email. The organization will continue to operate North Sound 211 until the end of September.

In October, Washington 211 will consolidate the state’s seven regions into one statewide call center operated by Crisis Connections, a Seattle-based nonprofit, which operated the King County 211 service since 2006, a release said.

Volunteers of America will continue to have contracts with some essential services, said Amanda Madorno, Washington 211’s interim executive director, in an interview.

“We will continue to operate as a contact center, providing connection to essential community resources — with particular focus on housing, food, and transportation,” North Sound 211 Director Amanda Etchey wrote in an email. “We are still in the process of finalizing this new structure and will provide updates to the community soon.”

The organization is still working through the branding of the new contact center, she said.

“Part of this was in response to the budget cuts from the state,” Madorno said. The Washington state 2025-27 biennium budget reduced Washington 211’s funding by 66%, the release said.

“Everybody’s facing them,” Madorno said. “A lot of nonprofits have to look at how to do business differently, how to be smarter about it, how to get more efficient, how to streamline, and in order to take care of the customers out there who we think are going to need us more than ever.”

Washington 211 has several initiatives to collect better local data and get it into the system, Madorno said. While no database is perfect, at least 80% was updated last year, she said, and “that’s a lot better than a lot of other research directories can say.”

Even if the call center is operated at the state level, Washington 211 has a commitment to provide local access, Madorno said.

“We have always and will always refer to local resources,” she said. “That isn’t going to change.”

Also, Washington 211 will continue to have a distributed workforce, with plans underway to retain some call center staff from around the state who are qualified and interested, Madorno said.

“We are excited to move forward with Crisis Connections as the statewide call center,” Washington 211’s Board Chair Deb Miller said in the release. We firmly believe this partnership opportunity will help WA 211 improve how it does business.”

In 2024, Washington 211 received 306,717 phone calls, texts and emails, the release said. Over 250,000 people used its online resource directory.

“We are honored to have been selected to serve community members across Washington state in connection to critical resources,” said Michelle McDaniel, Crisis Connections’ chief executive officer, in the release. “We are excited to partner with WA 211, local and state government, and human services providers in every county.”

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay